Absorbent articles, particularly disposable absorbent articles, have undergone an evolution since they first became commercially available. Materials and features made available by new technologies have improved the function and fit of absorbent articles. Before new designs and features become available on commercial products, substantial research and development efforts are necessary to ensure that the products will perform as expected. Development efforts typically include “bench top” laboratory tests to measure features and performance such as strength, flexibility or breathability. While reliable and useful, the bench top tests are not capable of accounting for the conditions experienced during normal use of absorbent articles. Desirably, absorbent articles are tested through use by consumers who later provide feedback.
While the results are extremely useful, consumer use testing has its disadvantages. For example, consumer use testing is costly and time consuming. Additionally, consumer feedback is subjective and sometimes has a high degree of variability. In order to bridge the gap between bench top test methods and consumer use tests, product testing with life-like models may be used to test the design and performance of absorbent articles. Life-like models such as mannequins or robots may be used to test absorbent articles under more realistic conditions without the time necessary and the cost incurred for consumer testing.
During the last decade there has been a surge in the technology of robotics. Most robots are designed to repeat a mechanical function many times for use in an assembly process. The technology developments have been due, in part, to advances in computer controls and superior materials. Androids are a specialized segment of robotics. An android is an anthropomorphic robot, that is, a robot that looks like or moves like a human. The following are examples of significant and well-known efforts in the area of anthropomorphic robots: (1) ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) is a walking android developed by Honda Motor Co. of Tokyo, Japan. Honda has reported that over $100 MM has been spent on the development of ASIMO. Honda is developing ASIMO to act as a helper to people in need; (2) “Crash Test Dummies” have been under development for over fifty years for use by the automobile industry to measure car safety in crashes. The “Hybrid III” developed by General Motors Co. represents an industry standard for crash testing; and (3) ADAM (Advanced Automotive Manikin) will be the world's most advanced thermal comfort mannequin. ADAM is being developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to mimic human responses such as sweating and breathing. ADAM will measure, predict and validate human physiological and psychological responses to the transient, non-uniform thermal environment found in motor vehicles. While more and more industrial applications for mannequin testing are identified, there is still cost associated with developing and conducting mannequin-based test methods. There remains a need for more life-like mannequin systems, particularly mannequin systems for evaluating the design and performance of absorbent articles.
Mannequin systems have been especially developed for testing of absorbent articles. Absorbent articles may include disposable absorbent articles such as infant diapers, diaper pants, toddler training pants, feminine care articles and adult incontinence pads and briefs. For example, Courtray Consulting in Douai, France sells a system of static baby mannequins for measuring urine leakage of infant diapers. While such systems are useful for conducting performance testing, they have some limitations. For example, existing mannequin systems do not necessarily match the skin and tissue conformance of humans, the systems are not very durable, the systems do not provide life-like movement and the systems are very costly.